


Come Back to Bed

by My_Lady_Lune



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, I'm sleepy and I feel like cuddling, M/M, Sleep, but I've no one to cuddle, so i wrote this instead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:49:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25929913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Lady_Lune/pseuds/My_Lady_Lune
Summary: Thomas and Richard, in the quiet moments.
Relationships: Thomas Barrow/Richard Ellis
Comments: 3
Kudos: 72





	Come Back to Bed

The clock tells him that it is 3:49 in the morning. The clock can fuck right off. 

He’d gone and made tea some time ago, and sat on the couch to read a bit. The dullest book on the shelf was probably _Burke’s Peerage_ , which Richard’s mum had given him for reasons unknown, and Thomas makes his way steadily through the Great War edition. It had been 2:15 when he’d sat down. His tea was cold. 

As Thomas sat there, cursing the clock in his mind, a pair of arms gently encircled him from behind the sofa. He sighed at the gentle kiss on his neck. “Come back to bed, darling,” Richard whispers into his skin. 

“I can’t--”

“Just come lie down.” Another kiss. “Come lie down for a while.”

Thomas does. He sets the book down on the coffee table and follows Richard back to the bedroom. When he’d tried to sleep earlier, he’d been unable to find comfort and had only felt the need to move his body. But now, as Richard pulled the covers over them both, Thomas lets out a sigh of contentment. 

They’re facing one another, which Thomas thinks is rather nice, but Richard says, “Other side,” and nudges him to turn around to face the window. It’s a pleasant night, a waning crescent moon--and in his mind, he hears this in Richard’s voice--delicately lights the sky. 

Thomas supposes that he expects Richard to spoon up behind him, but he does not. Instead, he feels Richard’s hands stroking up and down his back, slow and languid, and then the even strokes turn to kneading as Richard starts massaging his shoulders. It’s unexpected but _Jesus_ , it feels good, and Thomas sighs deeply, his eyes still on the moon. 

Thomas does not remember falling asleep, but when he is woken the following morning by Richard shifting around behind him (he _had_ ended up snuggled close, fancy that) he feels refreshed. Like a new man. He snuggles closer against Richard’s chest, because he can, and as the man behind him chuckles softly, Thomas dozes just a little longer.

* * *

  
There was once a time wherein Richard would go jogging in the morning. 

He’d get up around 6:00 or 7:00, eat, stretch, run, shower, go to work. Like clockwork, almost. It wasn’t something he ever really thought about, his being a morning person, but his whole family had been so growing up and he supposed it stuck. 

Richard had never been very attached to the idea of sleep, or lying in bed, or anything. Honestly, if asked, he felt that there was always something better to do with his time, with his life, than waste it away in bed. 

More the fool, him. 

With no alarm to prompt him, Richard found himself awake near 6:40 in the morning on an off-day. That he put on his sweatpants and runners was practically second nature. However, as he sat on the bed to put on his socks, his dear Thomas stirred. 

“Wh’t ‘r’you doin’?”

Richard smiled over his shoulder. “I was going for a jog. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Thomas, now a but more roused, rolled to better face him. “What? Why?”

Richard furrowed his brow. “What do you mean? I always go.”

This, it seemed, was not an acceptable answer. “No. That’s different. Today’s Sunday.”

“Yes?”

“‘S’your day off, and my day off. Come back to bed.”

“I think you’ll find I’m already in bed-- _oh!_ ” Thomas, in a surprising feat of energy this early in the morning, had taken his arm in-hold and tugged so that Richard flailed onto his back. Laughing, he straightened himself on the mattress, wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants and one sock. Thomas pulled him close, and soon Richard had his arm around the other man, feeling his deep, sleepy breaths against his neck. “You’re a bad influence.”

“We’ll go on a walk later.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“Mmm.”

And like a light, Thomas was asleep again. This, Richard decided, was a very good idea. He mentally applauded his sweetheart for thinking of it. Here, in their bed, with nowhere to go and nothing to do, was exactly where he wanted to be. 


End file.
